School leadership changes

There will be a number of new faces in different places when school re-opens in September!

Principal and vice-principalships for the upcoming school year have now been announced.

Mark Marino, the current principal at Eagle River Secondary, will be moving to A.L. Fortune (ALF). He will be joined by Gloria Cox, who is currently an acting vice-principal at Jackson.

Scott Anderson, the current principal at ALF, will be the new principal at Shuswap Middle School (SMS). Lyle Chapman, a former SD83 teacher who is a current vice-principal in Vernon school district, will be the new principal at Eagle River Secondary.

Sydney Griffith, the current principal at SMS, will be taking over the reins at Silver Creek Elementary. While, Kirsten Mazur, the current principal at Silver Creek, will be moving to Grindrod Elementary. Jeff Abbott, the current principal at Grindrod is retiring.

Jodi Garries, the current principal at Sorrento, will be moving to Hillcrest Elementary while Gord Ritchie, the current Hillcrest principal, will be off to Jackson. Current Jackson principal Steve Drapala will be the new principal at Pleasant Valley Secondary (PVSS). Current PVSS principal Chelsea Prince is the district’s new Director of Instruction – Indigenous Education.

The new principal at Sorrento Elementary will be Paul Rosman, who is currently the principal at North Shuswap. Taking over at North Shuswap will be Chris Matheson, the current vice-principal at A.L. Fortune.

District Principal (Education Outreach and International Students) Rob MacAulay will be the new principal at Len Wood Middle School as current principal Denise Moore is retiring.

Current Salmon Arm West principal David Wellingham will be moving to North Canoe Elementary, while its principal Glen Overgaard, is retiring. Laura Jegues, currently the vice-principal at Bastion, will be the new principal at Salmon Arm West. Megan Weir, a vice-principal at SMS, will be the new vice-principal at Bastion.

New to the district, Clint Maltais will be the new vice-principal at Shuswap Middle School. He joins SD83 from School District No. 23 (Central Okanagan).

Why move principals?

Assistant Superintendent (Human Resources) Ryan Brennan explains SD83 moves principals and vice principals around for a variety of reasons. These may include a request for a move by the principal or vice principal, the opportunity to give a principal or vice principal a new leadership experience or an experience working with a different community, or a move necessitated by a retirement or resignation and subsequent promotion. Principals and vice principals are given the opportunity each winter to meet with the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent to discuss their current placement and provide feedback on what they see in their future. The Senior Leadership Team takes this input and combines it with feedback from stakeholder groups and the community and makes placement decisions in the spring.

This current year saw more principal moves than what would normally occur. One of the factors at play this spring was the fact that the District has intentionally not made as many changes over the past two years as would be typical, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and a desire to maintain consistency in our schools. Another unusual factor this year was the retirement of three principals and the promotion of one other school-based principal to a Senior Leadership Team position.

Happy Retirement!

Congrats and happy retirement to three of our long-serving principals, Denise Moore, Jeff Abbott and Glen Overgaard, who are retiring at the end of this school year.

All have provided excellent learning situations at their schools and their knowledge and experience will be missed by the district.

Denise started her career with our district in 1986 as a Learning Resource Teacher. Over her 36 years with the district she served as a teacher at Len Wood, Armstrong Elementary, and Highland Park. As an administrator she also served at Armstrong Elementary, Ranchero, and M.V. Beattie. She is currently the principal at Len Wood Middle.

Jeff started his career with SD83 in 1990 as a principal at Seymour Arm School. Over his 32 years with the district he has served as a teacher at Grindrod, and as administrator at Hillcrest, Len Wood, Malakwa, Ranchero, Armstrong Elementary, North Canoe, and most recently Grindrod.

Glen started his career with SD83 in 2006 as vice-principal at Carlin Elementary Middle School. Over his career he has served as administrator at Carlin, North Shuswap, Len Wood, South Broadview and North Canoe schools.